Back to School!

In case you couldn’t tell from oh, say, every single Facebook post this week, Augusta kids have returned to school. To say that I’m excited for them to go back would be an understatement. To say they they’re excited to get back would be a lie.

It’s not that I want my kids to go away. Well, that’s half of it. Maybe three quarters. Okay, so it’s 90 percent of it. But it also means that fall is nearly here. There’s so many things to get excited about the fall! Of course there’s football, there’s fall nights around the fire pit, there’s football, the fair will be here soon, football, Halloween… did I mention football?

The kids don’t really hate school. So, we lucked out there. No. 4 thinks he’s excited about the first grade but he’s just like daddy so he’ll be hating school by the end of the week.

The polar opposite would be No. 3. She adores school. She’s the sit-up-front, help the teacher every chance that she gets student that the whole faculty knows. I think she’s even got a key to the teachers lounge.

No. 2, however… I’m not sure he knows he’s going back to school. All he’s talked about is football tryouts on the second day of school. Well, that and the $100 shoes that he wants. I hit him with the phrase that I hated from my dad but have been dying to use on my own kids: “Save your money!”

I’m totally getting a taste of my own medicine with this kid. I was all about the expensive shoes and my long hair at his age, too. He’s got the swoopy hair that the kids have and the forbidden words around him are the words “hair” and “cut.” It triggers a meltdown of epic, 12-year-oldian proportions.

Truth is, I really dig this time of year. I get a kick out of meeting the new teachers and classmates. It’s weird. It drove No. 2 crazy at open house: “Jeez Dad, are you going to meet every single one of my teachers?!” He’s 12, so everything embarrasses him. Which is fun!

There’s a certain part of me that enjoys watching the kids go back to school because I know that I don’t have to go. However, the kids being away at school during the day also means that the house is nice and quiet. Most parents will agree that it’s a welcome change after the summer filled with arguments about who’s watching what, complaints of “I’m booooored” and continuous questions about anything and everything. It also gives me a chance to get things done around the house that I’ve been meaning to get to all summer: walking around in my underwear and playing my kids’ X-Box.

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